All posts tagged parenting

For those with their heads in the gutter, that is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the great outdoors. I’m talking about how easy it is for kids to forget about the beautiful world outside. I won’t sit here and say I’m not guilty of it. I grew up during an age when video games consoles were first born and it was exciting. I also knew what it was like to leave the house with my little friend and explore the neighborhood, as long as I was home by dinner time. And when my brother and I were at our father’s, we were free to wander the trails of the woods, so long as we checked for ticks before we came back in the house. I do my best to make sure my son gets a healthy mix, considering he’ll need to know the basics of a computer or tablet when he starts school. But I’d rather he create rather than relish in the creativity of others all the time.

For Father’s Day, we packed up the car and went to visit a friend of my husband’s. He lives, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic! The dogs roamed the property with the chickens, the kids caught frogs and chased each other, and we had a casual cook out with new friends. When we got home, it was way too late for a bath, so I stripped the boy down to his Ninja Turtle Underoos and scrubbed him down right there in the kitchen.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

“Yes!” he said quite confidently.

“What was your favorite part?”

He thought for a moment, tapping his little finger to his chin. “All of it!” he said, “But I really like the duck.”

Being out there made me miss my days of adventure as a child. We grow up and work so hard, sometimes we’re just too tired to do anything else afterwards. So today, the boy and I grabbed his butterfly net and a bucket and walked down to the stream behind our neighbor’s house. I wanted to catch him a polliwog, to show him how frogs look before they become frogs. But I suppose I’m a bit out of practice. Silly me didn’t wear my boots, so my Converse sneakers slipped on the banking and into the mud I went.

Today is Mother’s Day. Growing up, it meant creating a homemade card out of construction paper and stopping by the local greenhouse for a new flowery plant for the garden. These days, it’s a little different. I’m a mother as well as a daughter. It’s funny actually. I don’t really want things – I just want quiet. I just want a day of laziness and nothing. I want peace.

This must’ve been how my mother felt. She has three kids, along with a strenuous job as an intensive care nurse for 50 or more hours a week. I can’t even begin to imagine. She’s so strong. How can I live up to that? How could I possibly compare? She and I talk a lot more now that I’m older, now that I’m also a mother. The more we talk, the more I admire and appreciate everything she’s ever done for us – the sacrifices are literally never ending, even now. Because motherhood does not end when the kids turn eighteen and leave the nest. Now, she’s a grandmother too. I know it’s a role she loves, though the title makes her feel old. I think it makes her all the more distinguished. And the little ones sure do love their Onie.

I just wanted to stop by here today and let you all know there are different ways to show your appreciation to the mother or mother-like figures in your life. She doesn’t want things, (unless she specifically asks for something.) She wants to hear you say how much you love and appreciate her, then she wants you to leave her alone. She wants you to cook and clean and chase the kids around, preferably where she can’t hear them. She wants a true day off from the day-t0-day, because being a Super Mom is tough work.

And to those out there who have lost their mother, know that she loves you and still watches over you, because a mother is always a mother. Something as silly as death cannot stop her from watching over her babies, who will always be her babies even if they themselves are old and gray.

To all the moms out there, to my mother, my stepmother, my mother-in-law… thank you. And Happy Mother’s Day.

I see people from all walks of life, from both ends of the spectrum and in between.

I see the suits and ties: those who think they are the “end-all, be-all” and better than everyone and care only of what they will gain – and those who refuse to forget where they came from and treat others as equals.

I see the blue collars: those who have let their labor callous them inside and out – and those grease-covered hard workers that know not how to slow down and know only that they need to provide for others.

I see the old: those that have lost all else and are only waiting to die with the intent of spreading their bitter taste for life before doing so – and those who have seen history be made and repeated and achieved and blundered and long only to pass on all they’ve learned to enrich others.

I see the young: those obsessed with vanity, that take advantage of those who love them and couldn’t care less – and those brought up on manners and discipline with hopes and dreams larger than they could ever achieve and yet still long to at least try.

I see parents: those that would cause anyone to wonder why they had children in the first place if they only see and treat them as burdens – and those who have read and researched and strive to raise intelligent, polite, generous children without ever raising their hand.

I see criminals: those still lifting and dealing and finding more ways to “stick it the man” – and those only distinguished from the masses by their prison ink and now live rehabilitated as law-abiding citizens with priorities of family and societal compliance.

The people I see are those I know and those I don’t – and their stories will be told whether they tell them or not.